John Brodie has organized Store for a Month, which opens June 3rd. Brodie takes his concept from Claes Oldenburg’s “Store” of 1961, inviting artists to make works on the spot and sell them too. One of the works offered is the piece above, Cloud Painting 1 by Arcy Douglass. Over 60 artists are participating. John Brodie will join me on KBOO this Tuesday and tell us all about the store.

Anne Grgich is a self-taught artist working within the tradition of Outsider Art. She makes books and works in paint and assemblage. She has shown all over the world. Her work has been featured in Raw and many other magazines. Grgich has also curated Outsider Art exhibitions.

Our guest on Art Focus was Mark Woolley. He’s been in the news a lot because he is bringing his gallery to a close. He has one more show to mount in that space: I could have beena Collecta. We talked about his future plans and reminisce about his favorite shows.

Kim McKenna has a show of paintings at the Beppu Wiarda Gallery in NW Portland. The exhibition is called Modern Problems and it is an exploration of artificiality as it relates to various types of pictorial space.

Deep Field Gallery opens on June 30TH at 1126 NW 13TH. Director Jennifer Porter of Chroma curated their first show of 4 artists all working in steel. The show is called Steel Environics, featuring Stephen Miller, Brian Mock, Eric Holt and Garrett Price.

Pioneer Place is a shopping mall downtown which has transformed its third floor into a gallery spot. Place, Mark Woolley and Peoplesare all there. Our guests on Art Focus were the Directors Gabe Flores, Mark Woolley and Chris Haberman.

Guest host Kathleen Stephenson speaks with ceramic artist Kim Murton of the Oregon Potters Association and metal scuptor Greg Wilbur of the Creative Metal Arts Guild about the Gathering of the Guilds which is happening May 4th, 5th and 6th at the Oregon Convention Center.

Guest host Kathleen Stephenson spoke with Linda Sawaya, Seidel Standingelk and Carol Matsuyoshi, local artists and activists involved in events surrounding the 20th anniversary of the WE SPEAK MURAL PROJECT, talk about the history of the project and the current installation of mural panels in the Columbia Gorge.

In 1991 the first Gulf War instigated the creation of an organization in Portland called ALANA: Asians, Latinos, Native Americans and African Americans for Peace and Justice. in 1992 ALANA organized a mural project called WE SPEAK presenting a minority view of the Columbus Quincentenary being celebrated that year across the nation.

Artist and activist Linda Sawaya organized the anniversary events. Linda painted one of the thirteen murals on racism and alternative views to the view the Columbus Quincentenary of 1992. Carol Matsuyoshi collaborated with other artists on the Asian/Pacific Islander panel. Seidel Standingelk collaborated on two panels.